A Hero's Welcome
by ShadowRanger10
Summary: Luke returns in a time of peace. But is it truly peaceful?
1. Chapter 1

A Hero's Welcome

Introduction

Summary: Luke returns in a time of peace. But is it truly peaceful or is there a threat lurking in the shadows?

Disclaimer: Namco owns Tales of the abyss.

Today was a day unlike any other, for more reasons than any one person could count.

Among those reasons is the fact that it is the coming of age ceremony of Luke Fon Fabre. It had already been a year since his death on Eldrant, which had crashed into Tataroo Valley. The ceremony also served as a formal funeral for him since his parents were reluctant to hold one upon the destruction of Eldrant. At first they believed that he would return, however as the months passed their conviction continued to weaken, until today when they finally decided to give up. They were force to accept the idea that their son was never coming home again.

Even though his own family had lost faith in his return, there were people who hadn't. Those people were his friends, Lord Gailardia Galan Gardios, Fon Master Guardian Anise Tatlin, Colonel Jade Curtiss, Princess Natalia L.K. Lanvaldear and Tear Grants.

This is what brings us to another aspect that contributes to the day's uniqueness.

The normally quiet and remote Tataroo Valley had been disturbed by the presence of humans, five of them in fact. They had shattered the absolute silence that usually reined the area.

What broke the silence was a beautiful song, sung by an equally beautiful female voice. It was a wonderful melody, passed down from generation to generation by Yulia Jue's descendents, the Grand Fonic Hymn.

The Hymn could be heard from anywhere in the valley, and surely enough it had awoken a certain redhead, who had only appeared on the planet moments ago.

As soon as the newly reborn man had risen from his slumber, he immediately recognized the song and the person singing it. When he got back up to his feet, he checked his surroundings and came to the conclusion that he must be in Eldrant's remains. He then started walking to the source of the singing, in order to find his way out of ruined city. The singing stopped soon, but he was able see the exit by then, so he quickly got out.

By that time the only thing illuminating the field was the moonlight, which only served to intensify the beauty of the now blooming selenia flowers.

When he stepped out onto the field he found just what he expected, his friends were there. They couldn't see him though, they had their backs turned to him and it looked like they were about to leave.

The others had already started walking away when Tear glanced behind her hoping to catch a glimpse of Luke, and so she did. She gasped, causing the others to turn to her. And they were all shocked to see a man with red hair coming towards them.

He stopped in front of Tear and she asked him:

"Why are…you here?" She seemed to be struggling to keep herself from breaking down.

"This place has a nice view of Hod." He answered while looking up at the sky.

"And also…I promised someone." He added, this time looking her in the eye.

Upon hearing his last statement Tear couldn't hold her emotions in any longer, she cried. She allowed the tears to stream freely down her face like she hadn't done in such a long time. She then went up and embraced him, along with the others who had done the same. With the exception of the Colonel of course, who merely stood in the back and smiled as if to say 'welcome back'.

They all started talking to Luke at the same time which made it impossible for him to understand what they were saying exactly. Suddenly Jade spoke up:

"Well then, perhaps we should go to Baticul to announce your return? Noelle is waiting for us on the Albiore, we can talk more there."

Luke looked at Jade and nodded, then started heading back towards the albiore.

Suddenly Luke caught Tear's arm, which made her turn to him as he said:

"And by the way, I love you too."

She smiled at him, took his hand and they followed everyone to the albiore.

A/N: Well, that's the end of this chapter. I want to thank the people who read and reviewed my first story and I hope you enjoy this one as well.


	2. Chapter 2

A Hero's Welcome

Chapter 2

One by one they filed into the albiore with Luke coming in last.

Noelle who had fallen asleep in the pilot's seat woke to the sound of their chatter. It surprised her that they were speaking at all; the trip to the valley was silent which was perfectly understandable considering the circumstances; she had fully expected them to return just as somber as before.

Hoping to find an explanation to the sudden change in the group's atmosphere, she glanced at them trying to find anything different. Needless to say, what she saw surprised her.

"Hey Noelle! It's been a long time hasn't it?"

As soon as she heard the familiar voice she was certain she could not be mistaken however, try as she might, she could not understand how this could be. She stood there mouth agape, trying to force out words.

"M-Master Luke!" She managed to exclaim.

"Yeah, I'm back!" He said.

And the poor, confused pilot fainted.

After things had calmed down and Noelle had regained consciousness, the Albiore took off, with the kimlascan capital as its destination. The group had decided to go to Baticul to announce Luke's return to his parents and the king. The instant they were in the air the only sound in the aircraft was the low hum of its engine. Everyone, with the exception of Noelle, was looking expectantly at Luke. Understanding immediately what they wanted, he dove into his explanation.

"After you all left, Eldrant began its collapse, my fonons were already separating, I thought I was going to die…"

He cut off his explanation looking lost in thought then continued:

"Anyway, while Eldrant was collapsing, I caught Asch who fell from another part of Eldrant. After that Lorelei, who we had released, came up to me. My body had almost completely disappeared but suddenly, my fonons stopped the separation. Lorelei was directing seventh fonons to reconstruct my body, and strengthen the bonds of the fonons I had left, using Asch's body as a model. Lorelei then went into the Fon Belt leaving me to be…pretty much remade. With Lorelei gone the process took an entire year, and that's it."

The explanation left everyone speechless, even the colonel seemed deep in thought.

The craft was plunged in a seemingly never ending silence, while the group tried to understand the information. It was Luke who broke it.

"So…what's happened since Eldrant's fall?"

"This is going to be a loooong conversation…" Anise whined.

"Yes, but he deserves to be informed." Tear responded.

"Indeed, so Guy I leave it to you to explain recent events." Jade added, smiling that devious smile of his.

"You really enjoy doing that don't you?" Guy sighed.

"Enough you two, I'll explain." And so Natalia began to recount events and describe the current state of Auldrant.

It turned out that relations between Kimlasca and Malkuth had come a long way from the two countries that had once declared war upon each other. They were cooperating with Teodoro in Yulia City to try to see to the replica problems, and had come to the conclusion that in order to house the overflow of replicas they would have to build a new city as well as houses in the existing towns. The project was underway; the houses had already been completed and the city was being planned out by Auldrant's top architects, with construction costs being split between the kingdom and the empire. There were also a lot of replicas in Engave who helped with the farming so food production had been on the uptake, it had almost doubled, thereby alleviating the threat of famine.

The situation with the Score had been explained to the countrymen of both nations by their leaders. And certain measures had been taken to ensure that the transition was made easier. Among those measures were the appointment of Florian as the new Fon Master, it would make the people feel more comfortable because of his resemblance to Ion and it would help them accept replicas. Finally since people had come to understand that the replicas were in no way responsible for the dangers that befell them and that the hero Luke Fon Fabre was one of them, attacks and assassinations on replicas had lessened dramatically, from killing replicas upon seeing them, the violent reactions to replicas had been alleviated.

Luke was ecstatic when he learned of the decrease in hostility against replicas. He thought about the many things Natalia had told him until he drifted off to the land of dreams.

He would be home soon.

A/N: That took me a while; the chapter has a lot of explanations and was pretty hard to write but the next chapter should come faster. Anyway I hope it all made sense and that it wasn't too horrible.


	3. Chapter 3

A Hero's Welcome

Chapter 3

It had been only a few years since Luke fon Fabre first saw his home city of Baticul after being imprisoned in his family's mansion; so when he saw it again for the first time since his resurrection, he felt as though it was the first he had laid eyes on it.

The city had undergone a complete change.

Whatever free space existed in Baticul before had completely disappeared, making room for apartment buildings and small homes to house the replicas; and even still there were buildings under construction.

There were more people in the streets and security seemed tighter than before, kimlascan soldiers were stationed in various strategic places in order to have a good view of the city.

Another thing Luke had realized as he got on the elevator-which was also new, most likely to facilitate circulation what with the sudden increase in citizens- was that he couldn't distinguish the replicas from the humans, he assumed they would have difficulties blending into society considering they barely knew how to walk.

He also noticed a crowd of people around Miyagi's Dojo.

"Hey Natalia, is there something going on in the dojo?"

"In a way, yes." She replied. " In order to aid replicas in leading their lives, Mr. Miyagi volunteered to convert his dojo into a replica teaching center, they are taught basic things like Auldrant's history and for the younger replicas, how to walk and talk. The teachers are all volunteers."

"That's a great idea." Luke commented, amazed at the change of attitude towards replicas.

Upon exiting the elevator, Luke found himself in front of Fabre Manor.

He stood in front of the manor and started examining it from outside, searching for anything that might have changed and was relieved to find that nothing had.

"Good to see that something hasn't changed." Luke remarked, smiling.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." Guy responded.

"Yeah you'd think he'd be sick of the place after stuck in there for seven years." Anise agreed.

"Perhaps it would be best to actually go inside now?" Jade proposed.

The group entered the manor without as much as a question to the guards who stared after them, having noticed Luke.

Luke scanned the familiar hallways of his home, noticing that there wasn't a soul around not even Ramdas…

"Wonder why it's so empty…" He thought aloud.

"The Fabres probably want some privacy." Anise said.

"Why would you say that?"

"…They just held your funeral yesterday." She admitted.

"Oh."

_I guess they only gave up hope on me yesterday, I thought they would have given up right away ._Luke thought. _But why yesterday? Did something happen?_

"Did something happen yesterday?" He asked.

"Yesterday was your coming of age ceremony, Luke." Natalia responded.

"So that's it." He mused.

They finally reached the duke's chambers and Luke hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door.

There was no response so the party decided to look in the courtyard.

Standing there in front of one of the flowerbeds was the duke, clad in dark robes and wearing a solemn expression; he stood in contrast with the bright afternoon sun and the warm colored flowers of the garden, looking distant as though he were in another world.

Luke was taken aback by the state his father was in.

It was then that Luke's mother, duchess Susanne walked out of Luke's room seeming incredibly feeble.

If the Duke looked bad then the Duchess looked even worse; her face was pale and her hair was matted with sweat; her green eyes seemed lifeless, as though she could no longer see anything around her.

Upon seeing his mother Luke spoke up, unable to bear the sight of both his parents in such a terrible state.

"Mother! Father!" He called.

Susanne lifted her head, her eyes lighting up and her expression hopeful. It was the first flicker of hope she had felt in a long time.

At the same time, her husband whirled around, surprised though his face didn't show it. He believed the call was an illusion created by his own mind until he saw the duchess running up to the red-haired boy in front of him crying tears of relief and embracing him, all the while asking if he were truly Luke. She was asking if their son was actually alive and home.

"Luke, is that really you?" The duke asked, still dazed.

"Yes father. I'm home." Luke answered.

It was true, Luke fon Fabre was finally home.

After his parents had recovered from the initial shock, they had wanted to know what had happened to him, so Luke explained once again. Having already heard the explanation Natalia went to the castle to inform King Ingobert of Luke's return, while the rest of the group went to secure rooms at the inn for the night.

At the end of his explanation, Luke's parents asked the question he was dreading.

"Is there any chance Asch might return as well?"

"I'm sorry." He said, sadness darkening his features.

"That's alright." The duchess said. "We are lucky that one of our sons survived through all that has happened."

Luke then went to the castle, joined by his parents, earning the surprised looks of the castle guards and any visitors that might have been there.

When he reached the throne room, King Ingobert welcomed him back, and requested that he recount his resurrection once more.

By the time Luke was finished, night had fallen upon the city of Baticul.

He urged the Duke and Duchess to return to the mansion saying he wanted to visit one of his friends.

It was true, he wanted to see Tear but he needed to walk alone first.

And so he strolled through the city, letting the night air clear his mind.

_I can't believe how different things are now ._He thought. _It's great that replicas are more accepted, but I can't even recognize the city anymore._

Luke was jolted out of his thoughts by a deafening sound.

He didn't have time to react before being knocked back and having his head collide with the ground.

The last thing he saw before passing out was a roaring fire and the sign for Miyagi's dojo burning in the flames.

A/N: I managed to start up a little bit of action at the end. Hope you enjoy the chapter!


End file.
